


arco iris

by crescentharpe (yumenosete)



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Horikoshi RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 17:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumenosete/pseuds/crescentharpe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Ryosuke realizes belatedly that he’s charmed</i>. Library AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	arco iris

**Author's Note:**

  * For [macymacymacy](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=macymacymacy), [gwynfryd](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=gwynfryd).



> \- Prompt by Macy: Taylor Swift, RED; (though it kind of ventured away...)  
> \- Should’ve been written for my birthday but /whatever late. Also for the birth of gwynmacyharpe community @ lj. This is for Jan and Macy ♥  
> \- has vague library sex  
> \- original livejournal entry [here](http://gwynmacyharpe.livejournal.com/6574.html)

**i. rojo**

He’s not the type to go to the library. He relies on his skill and his gustatory perception when it comes to cooking and the master chef of the newly opened restaurant willingly took in a fledgling like him.

Still, Yamada Ryosuke thinks that increasing his knowledge in the more technical aspects of cooking will be beneficial to him and to the restaurant (although part of why he wants to learn is because the genius cook Chinen Yuri keeps sniggering on him whenever he makes a mistake).

And so he does.

But as he gets lost towards the cooking books section, he sees her. Petite figure with bright doe eyes, fair skin, her eyebrows furrow in concentration as she mumbles quietly the lines in what Ryosuke recognizes must be from the famous book _Princess Sarah_. She’s wearing a cherry-colored headband over her shortly cropped hair and stares at her plump limps tinted in pink gloss and its movement when she looks back at him, one eyebrow raises quizzically at him. He manages to open his mouth only to utter silence, and when he tries to step forward he trips on his own feet and falls comically in front of her.

She chuckles then, and Ryosuke realizes belatedly that he’s charmed.

 _“You fell”_ , she says to which he replies _“I did”_. Ryosuke doesn’t manage to go to the cooking section until she asks her what he’s doing in the library hours later.

 

**ii. naranja**

She isn’t the type to go to the library either.

This he learns weeks later when she details that auditioning for a role in a stage play is the only reason she hangs out in the library. It’s summer now and while most of the people prepare for the upcoming summer vacation and the sun’s scorching heat, both of them are hanging around the library and its free air conditioning. He’s holding a book regarding a sous-vide technique while she’s reading a novel regarding a psychopath. After all, there is no summer vacation for cooks and actresses.

Doesn’t mean they have to suffer while others were in the splashing water in an inviting pool.

He pushes an ice-cold homemade orange and carrot shake to her direction. She stares at him, as if to convey that drinking in the library is forbidden but he urges her on. For one, the head librarian is usually on break at this time; and two, they’re actually quite hidden from where they currently are.

She opens the drink and sips from it; for a moment he becomes nervous.

And then she smiles, her orbs glowing in delight.

From then on, he sneaks in food and drinks, and even with her reluctant denial, he still manages to make her eat before their day ends.

 

**iii. amarillo**

It happens in a movie-like incident.

She’s studying to audition for a role of a high school chef from Osaka and is hanging out in the cooking section before he even arrives. He imparts his knowledge to her then; saying things like _“no you cannot use beer for flambé, it wouldn’t ignite”_ and _“only use liquors branded as 80-proof. 120-proof are dangerous.”_

And then he searches for an ocher book regarding flambé because he cannot remember if the liquor must be warmed at 110 or 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which is located on the second-to-top shelf. Not being blessed with a tall figure and being clumsy on the most crucial moments, he slips on the dusty wooden stool.

What he doesn’t expect to happen is her holding out a hand towards him and tries to steady him. It fails, of course because even if he’s not exactly the tallest, he’s still heavier and stronger than her. They fall with a loud thud, with her on top of him. Any other instance, he’d groan in pain.

This time, his heart pounds as he realizes that her lips are on his right cheek. He’s frozen and so is she. She jerks backward and withdraws when he tries catching her eyes and staring at it intently before he pecks her cheek back. Why he did so, he wouldn’t be able to explain.

Still, when she slowly lowers her lips on his, he’s thankful for being in a trance in that moment.

She doesn’t win the role, but he’s grateful for the part coming her way once anyway.

 

**iv. verde**

This is not supposed to happen.

At least, not this time. Nor in this place.

She’s even more beautiful than he remembers that day (which is always); with her long hair curled at its ends, cheeks turning pink akin to the cherry blossoms outside, her bottom lip in between her teeth, and eyes swimming from him to her unknown book. Its as if everything she does looks attractive, _sensual_ , if Ryosuke would be honest. And it’s not entirely wrong, what with their secret lunches, note exchanges, whispers of sweet nothings and stolen hugs and kisses over the months. It’s just…he’s not sure she’s ready.

So he does the best thing his mind formulates in order to distract his thoughts: he fools around and grabs the book from her clasp, which she keeps on hiding whenever Ryosuke tries to take a peek.

He doesn’t expect to read a sex scene from an erotica novel.

He quickly closes the book and pushes it to her hands when she gasps when his hand comes in contact with hers. He looks at her eyes and he _knows_.

They’re glossy and dilated.

He pulls her in the hidden corner where the obscure Physics books are shelved and kisses her – with all the passion and love he feels and none of the usual gentleness and self-control he usually exercises. They should stop. She’s too strong of a woman to ever let him overpower him in the heat of the moment.

And strong she is. She flips their positions until his back is plastered on the bookshelves and kisses him with so much force that he’s not sure she possesses.

Everything seems hazy after that.

It all felt too fast, yet far too slow. There are just too many clothes for such an encounter, too indecent an act for such a place, and too many people who could interrupt. But as he felt her awkward hands hot on his skin, his own touch burning as it makes contact with hers, and lips entwining like it’s the only instinct they’ve known in this world, Ryosuke pays not much attention to the sounds of books losing their balance behind him and falling with a thud, to the distant murmurs of people, and to the fact that his back will hurt due to the book partitions later on.

Because this, he realizes, is perfect. She’s perfect.

He concentrates on every expression, every sound falling from her lips, and how she struggles to say his name and he’s the very reason why. He tries to ignore every ragged breath he himself makes and concentrates on her until it’s too much.

It ends all too soon when he calls out her name like it’s the only thing he could – and it may well be the case since it embodies a myriad of things he wants to say and couldn’t express in words.

 _“Mirai,”_ he speaks over and over, even after they’re done, and looks at her as if she’s the only thing that matters and feels a flutter in his stomach when she smiles like she believes the same.

 

**v. azul**

And then it’s over.

He doesn’t see her for days and then weeks. He has her number and so does she so he could always call. Only, he realizes that the only encounters they had involves the library. They’re always in the library, knowing that the whole ambiance of it and the fact that they’re always together satisfies them already that when she stops coming for two consecutive days, he knows there is something off.

He misses her like crazy.

Maybe she got a very significant role. He knows he’s a great actress without even watching any of her works and maybe she got busy due to it. Maybe she’ll tell him the good news in person one day as a surprise. Maybe she’ll come back soon.

Who is he kidding; it’s been a month and 6 days since he last saw her. And not even a ‘hi’ or ‘hello’.

Still, he has never felt this empty until she’s gone.

 

**vi. añil**

It’s silly to trade your usual place to the one near the window just in case she shows up in the library.

It makes sense at first of course, even if the bright blue sky turns into purple with streaks of orange from the setting sun. Even if he’s technically just looking outside those large windowpanes instead of reading the different types of wines to go with the Haute cuisines he’s been making recently. Even if he knows it might be another Mirai-less day.

When she comes out of a Honda car though with its driver who looked like he has just passed his driving exam holding the door for her, he suddenly thinks that this is a bad idea. More so when she smiles at the guy like she’s known him for years and that affection could be conveyed from the small gestures they show.

They look good together.

His world comes crashing down as Ryosuke remembers that there may not be a ‘Ryosuke and Mirai’, because as much as they show their love, there is no clear agreement that defines their relationship. No clarifications, no titles, just two strangers who fell in love in the library.

And now he thinks he may be the only one as she bids her companion goodbye with a kiss on the cheek.

 

**vii. violeta**

> I’m going to Paris this Sunday.

This he mails her when Chef Yabu tells him about the cooking internship that his partner and best friend in charge of their Paris branch is looking to sponsor a talented upcoming chef from Japan.

She doesn’t reply.

He roams around the library for what could possibly the last time and a flood of memories rushes to him. From the first day he met her (and falls literally), to the lunches he sneaks and feeds her, to their first kiss among many others that followed after, down to the moment of passion they shared. Every corner, every section, every single place possible reminds him of her, even as a waft of an air freshener smelling like violets invades his nose, and indicates that even if some things wouldn’t change (like that dusty wooden tool which is still sturdy over the years), there are some things that would. The place wouldn’t just smell of old paper alone.

It is enough to believe that everything isn’t a lie. And that once, in his life, he fell in love with the woman who wears a cherry-colored headband.

 

**(rojo al cuadrado)**

He comes back years later with a good reputation and a plan to open his own restaurant.

On the way to the library, he sees billboards of her endorsing a variety of products and beams. She became more alluring in the past years he hasn’t seen her and the amount of makeup, lighting, and Photoshop could only enhance that beauty.

She becomes an award-winning actress.

He browses all newspaper and magazine articles available in the library about her and couldn’t help but feel proud of her achievements.

Ryosuke reads an interview regarding her view on love. All she says is that it reminds her of color red.

> “Red, as in the cardigan he wore when we first met. He looked so flustered when he trips over his feet but I knew I fell in love when he did.”

He closes the article and blinks. He tries to process the information and then smiles bitterly. It’s too late now anyway.

He returns to the magazine racks and places them back the way he found them. When he turns, Ryosuke sees a woman reading _Princess Sarah_. When she turns, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

It’s the lady with the cherry-colored headband.

It seems that she’s shocked too from the unbelievable turn of events. He tries speaking but just like the first day he met her, words fail him. And so he moves towards her.

And slips due to a graph paper littered on the floor.

She chuckles and approaches him quickly. Ryosuke now believes in déjà vu.

 _“You fell”_ , she says to which he replies _“I did,”_ and then later added _“again.”_


End file.
